


A Little Like Coming Home

by ThisWasntTaken



Series: Sweet Justice [8]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Reunions, M/M, Phone Calls & Telephones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2013-11-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 01:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1038463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisWasntTaken/pseuds/ThisWasntTaken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Michael's visit, Castiel and Gabriel wonder if it's time to put the past in the past and go home. Will it really be any different? (Or: Alayna is getting progressively worse at summarizing.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Like Coming Home

“How are you?” Dean asks when they’re upstairs.  
“I don’t know what they’re talking about. Lucifer believes that Michael set it up so that people would attack him? Gabriel thinks the same way?” Castiel asks.  
“You could ask him over breakfast, if you want.”  
“I doubt he would tell me. For a very long time, Gabriel has been the only person watching over me, and—despite that I’m no longer a sixteen year old—he still sees me as a child in need of protection. He still calls me a ‘boy,’ threatens those I choose to spend time with. He is with me much like you are with Sam.”  
“Sammy was my job growing up.”  
“Gabriel made me his,” Castiel says. “I suppose always, but especially after there was another family meeting on homosexuality. He figured out before the end of the meeting that I was the reason for it, and he very much took me under his wing. I don’t believe he will tell me what they were talking about.”

“Wanna change the subject?” Dean asks.  
“I would like that very much, yes,” Castiel says.  
“How about what happened last night?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“You’ve been awkward around me all morning,” Dean says. “Did I do something stupid?”  
“I suppose one may consider it such,” Castiel nods.  
“What’d I do?”  
“You called me a prude.”  
“What?”  
“I agreed to let you stay because you were very intoxicated, but I told you we would not have intercourse. Then you called me a prude and asked what I supposed people did when drunk with their significant others.”  
“Cas, I—” Dean sighs.  
“Do you believe me prudish because we haven’t had sexual intercourse?”  
“Do you want the truth, or do you want me to make it sound pretty?”  
“You do believe me prudish.”  
“That’s not exactly true, Cas. Do I want you? Absolutely, and it can get frustrating that I can’t have you. But it’s your choice when—or ‘if,’ but please ‘when’—we have sex.”  
“It is your choice as well, concerning your own body.”  
“I’ve made my choice; I’m yours for the taking, whenever you’re ready.”

***

Gabriel enjoys cooking with Sam (he enjoys doing a lot of things with Sam), but there’s something about the only sounds in the kitchen being the sizzle of the pan and the hiss of the water that’s just relaxing. Gabriel has time to think things out without the darkness and emptiness of his bedroom to depress him.  
Sam breaks Gabriel out of his reverie with, “Gabe, I don’t actually have any clothes that don’t smell like booze, puke, and desperation.” When Gabriel turns around, Sam only has a towel around his waist to protect his virtue.  
“Wow, Sammy—” Gabriel starts.  
“Don’t call me Sammy.”  
“You’re naked in my living room. I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands,” Gabriel says, and starts toward the stairs. “After you,” he waves Sam on, and Sam, with as much righteous indignation as he can muster, marches up the stairs with Gabriel on his heels.

“You can wait in my room; I’ll get something from Cas for you,” Gabriel says, and leers. Sam ignores Gabe’s looks and just goes to wait in the bedroom. Dean is the one who comes in a few moments later with some clothes.  
“Thanks,” Sam says.  
“Forward planning, Sammy,” Dean says.  
“For all you know, I accomplished exactly what I set out to accomplish.”  
“ _Way_ too much information, Sam,” Dean says. “Gabe said breakfast is ready, so come down when you get dressed.”

***

“So,” Gabriel says at breakfast, “a tattoo, Sammy?”  
“Don’t call me Sammy, Gabriel.”  
“Fine, princess. What’s the tattoo about?”  
“It’s just something stupid Dean and I did before I left for college,” Sam says.  
“You also have a tattoo, Dean?” Castiel asks.  
“Yeah,” Dean says. “It really was a stupid idea,” he laughs.  
“If it helped you and Sam feel connected while you were apart, then it was not a stupid idea,” Castiel says.

“You wanna talk about what just happened?” Sam asks.  
“You, naked, in my living room?” Gabriel asks. “Absolutely.”  
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”  
Gabriel’s tone is cold when he says, “What happened isn’t anyone’s business but mine.”  
“It’s Cas’ business, too. That’s his older brother in a hospital,” Dean says.  
“And he’s free to go see him,” Gabriel says.  
“No, I’m not,” Castiel says.  
“What?”  
“I have always had to choose between them and you. If I go see them, I’m not certain there will be a place for me here when I return.”  
“Cassie. There will _always_ be a place for you, wherever I am,” Gabriel says. “I don’t know if I’ll go, but if it’s something you need to do, then it’s something I need you to do, okay?”  
Castiel nods. “I will call Michael and see when he plans to leave.”

After breakfast, “As much as I would like for you to stay, I have to grade papers and I find you to be quite a distraction,” Castiel says.  
Dean kisses Castiel. “I’ll head out, then. Call me whenever is good for you and we’ll work out that date, okay?”  
“I look forward to it,” Castiel nods.

“You coming, Sammy?” Dean asks.  
“If you wanna hang out, I’ll take you home later,” Gabriel says. Dean’s nostrils flare and his jaw clenches, but he remains quiet.  
“Yeah, I’ll stay. I’ll see you at home, Dean,” Sam says.  
“Gabriel, I think you and I need to talk,” Dean says.  
“I know, I know. Sam’s your baby brother and, if I hurt him, you’ll kill me. The same goes for Cas, so we can agree to just skip those, right?” Gabriel asks.  
“Somehow I think I’m more intimidating than you are,” Dean says.  
“You’ve never seen Gabriel angry. He is an absolute and unstoppable force when angry,” Castiel says.  
“Are you trying to say that I won’t like him when he’s angry?” Dean asks.  
“Yes. I don’t understand why that necessitated paraphrasing, but that’s what I said.”  
Dean kisses Cas. “Okay. I’m gonna go.”  
“I will walk you out,” Castiel says.

“You okay?” Sam asks. “You’ve looked peakish since Castiel said he was gonna go.”  
Gabriel puts down the plate he was washing, turns around and leans on the counter, looking defeated. “He thinks that if he wants to spend time with them, I won’t accept him.” Sam hugs him and Gabriel, wet hands and all, hugs back. “I don’t trust them with him, and he wants to go. They’re gonna hurt him. I have to be there to protect him.”  
Sam pushes Gabriel out to look in his eyes. “Hey. He’s not a child anymore. Maybe they will hurt him, but that’s a lesson he has to learn, okay? You don’t learn anything in the safety in the nest. It’s not until you’re pushed out that you learn to fly.”  
“Cas has been through a lot. I just don’t want him to think that his own family doesn’t accept him.”  
“That’s exactly what he thinks,” Sam says, “but Michael seems to want to change that.”  
“I don’t want him to go.”  
“Gabriel, listen to me. Castiel is a grown man. He can and will make his own decisions. You need to worry about what’s good for _you_. Do _you_ want to go see your family?”  
“It wasn’t the same for Castiel as it was for me; I made sure he didn’t get it like I did. I don’t know if I can go back.”  
“I asked if you wanted to, Gabriel. Answer that, and we’ll work out the ‘can,’” Sam says. “Do you want to go see Lucifer?” Gabriel sighs and wraps his arms around Sam. Castiel comes in and, not wanting to interrupt, quietly goes upstairs.

“I want to,” Gabriel says eventually. “Of course I want to; he’s my brother. I just don’t know if I can.”  
“I told you: we’ll work on ‘can’ later,” Sam says, and squeezes Gabriel closer.

***

Two days later, “Gabriel, Michael is leaving tomorrow and he wishes for me to ask once more if you’ll join us,” Castiel says.  
“I don’t know,” Gabriel says.  
“I will be there with you, if you’re afraid. It’s true that I can’t know how you were raised, despite the fact that we were raised by the same people in the same house, but I hope that you can overcome it and go. I can help you to be brave.”  
Gabriel’s face softens and he hugs Castiel. “Thanks, Cassie. I’m still thinking about it.”  
“I understand. I do not wish to sway your decision to something you’re uncomfortable with; I only want to let you know that you won’t be alone if you go.”

The next day, Sam comes into the shop.  
“Hey, Sasquatch. How’s the weather up there?” Gabriel grins.  
“Well, the air is thinner up here so it’s kind of hard to breathe. A bit cold, too,” Sam says, and leans down to kiss Gabriel. “You got someone coming in?”  
“Harry just got here, actually. He’s clocking in now,” Gabriel says. “I’ll get us some coffee.”  
“How about hot chocolate?”  
“You sure know the way to my heart, Sammich. Go grab a seat.”

“So, princess, to what do I owe the _immense_ pleasure?” Gabriel asks, setting a mug in front of Sam.  
“I wanted to see if you were going with Michael and Cas. Dean told me they were leaving today.”  
“I have to close the shop; I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it.”  
“Gabriel,” Sam says.  
“I can’t, Sam.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Sam asks.  
Gabriel looks up, startled. “What?”  
“I’ll go with you. I don’t have school or anything, so if you need me—”  
Gabriel shakes his head. “I can’t ask you to do that.”  
“You didn’t ask me; I offered.”  
“Sam, I—” Gabriel shuts his mouth when Sam takes Gabe’s hands in his own.  
“Gabriel, you want to go. _I_ want you to go. If you want me to come with you or if you wanna call me at some weird hour of the night and wake me up, that’s fine. I’m your boyfriend, okay? I’m here for you.”  
“I’ll go,” Gabriel says, and Sam smiles. “But I’m gonna take you up on calling at weird hours of the night. I’ll do it, Sam. Don’t doubt me.”  
“I have learned to never doubt you, Gabriel,” Sam leans across the table and kisses him.

“I really do have to take care of the store, though. Harry and Jake, my new chef, are the only ones working today,” Gabriel says.  
“Why don’t you call Ed and see if he’ll come in? Tell him it’s a family emergency,” Sam says. “You were talking about promoting him to manager, anyway. If he comes through, you know you can trust him for that.”  
“Okay. Okay! I’ll go. Stop looking at me like that.”  
Sam kisses him. “Call me.”  
“I just promised I would.”  
“When you land. Sometime normal first, okay?”  
“I will.”

***

“Gabriel.” When Michael sees him, he drops his bag and hugs him.  
“I’m glad you decided to come, Gabriel,” Castiel says.  
“Lucifer’s my brother,” Gabriel says. “He didn’t do anything wrong and I can’t refuse to see him because I’m angry with someone else.”

“Who is taking care of the coffee shop?” Castiel asks.  
“I called Ed in. He told me not to worry, as if that’ll happen.”  
“I’m sure he will take care of the place. Ed is a very trustworthy employee.”

“Are you two next to each other?” Gabriel asks. Michael responds enthusiastically but Gabriel can see in Castiel that he’s not looking forward to it—intimidation, nervousness, general social awkwardness. “Will you switch seats with me, Michael?”  
“I wanted to sit next to Castiel,” Michael says.  
“Castiel’s afraid of flying. I’d feel better if I could sit next to him.”  
“Very well,” Michael says, holding out his ticket.

“Hello?” Sam asks.  
“I’m so bored, Sam! I hate flying!” Gabriel says.  
“How long until takeoff?”  
“An hour, if nothing gets delayed. And there are no nonstop flights to Grand Rapids, so we have a layover in Denver.”  
“There are worse places to stop,” Sam says.  
“You’re not helping.”  
“What did you expect me to do? Have phone sex with you?”  
“That would certainly make the time go by faster.”  
“Try having actual sex with me first.”  
“I can come home right now and we can do just that,” Gabriel says.  
“There’s no way you’re getting laid if you back out of this.”  
“Fine. I’m still bored.”  
“I put a deck of cards in your carryon. See if you can get Cas or Michael to play with you.”  
“What are you, my wife? Are you gonna start signing my name on cards next?”  
“You at least have to sign your own name, Gabriel. They’ll think you don’t care if I have to put your name.”  
“Honey, I don’t care about them. That’s why you’re making the card out. Just sign my name and ‘with love’ or something.”  
Sam laughs. “I’m actually terrible at remembering to send cards.”  
“I’m actually great at it.”  
“Well, maybe you’ll be signing my name, then.”

***

After what seems like forever, they finally get to the hospital. Gabriel goes in alone first. Cas offered to come with him, but he didn’t want anyone in there.  
“Gabriel?” Lucifer asks.  
Gabriel loses some of his tension, smiles. “Hey, Luke. How are you?”  
“I’ve been better,” Luke laughs. “What about you? Michael says you own a coffee shop or something?”  
“Or something,” Gabriel laughs. “I sell coffee and basically anything chocolate. Pie, cake, hot chocolate, cookies, whatever.”  
“And how’s it doing?”  
“It’s doing well. I’m not quite in the black from the initial loss, but I’m making a good profit every month. I’m near a few universities, so cold, hungry, bingeing college students come in a lot.”  
“That’s good,” Lucifer says. “Sit down.” Gabriel grabs the chair in the corner and scoots it over by the bed. “Michael said you had a ‘friend’ over when he came by. I wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘friend,’ but I figured it was probably—”  
“Sam’s…I don’t know. He called himself my boyfriend; maybe he is. He’s so young and I just don’t—he’s so young.”  
“How old is he?” Luke asks. “Sixteen, seventeen?”  
“He’s twenty-two.”  
“That’s legal,” Lucifer shrugs.  
Gabriel laughs. “Yes. Yes, it certainly is. I’m dealing with the less-defined issue of morality, though.”  
“Does he want you?”  
“I guess so, for some reason.”  
“Does he make you happy?”  
“Yeah,” Gabriel nods.  
“Then what are you worrying about?”  
“He’s just a kid.”  
“He’s a grown man. You left home before you were twenty-two; what makes him any less capable of making decisions about his life? Is he all there, mentally?”  
“Sam’s fine. He’s brilliant and attractive and funny and way too good for me.”  
“If he’s too good for you and he wants you, you need to get your hooks into him fast. Stop wasting time, Gabriel!” They both laugh, but Gabriel’s expression soon changes.

“It was different after you left,” Gabriel says.  
“I know,” Lucifer says.  
“Michael needed you to balance him out. Without you there, he went power mad or something. He started trying to force us to walk the line.”  
“I know.”  
“We needed you there. _I_ needed you there.”  
“I know, Gabriel. I’m sorry,” Lucifer says and wraps his arm around Gabriel. “I never wanted to leave you; Michael forced my hand. But it wasn’t all his fault, either. He was still a kid when Mom left. Fifteen years old and he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to go to college. We had _babies_ , Gabriel, and suddenly they were his job. He kicked me out because he didn’t want me to ruin your lives, not because I was in the way of his army.”

***

Gabriel spends a while in there, but he knows that Cas also wants to see Luke so he goes out into the waiting room to find that, apparently, the entire family has been alerted to the return of the prodigal sons. Castiel is surrounded by family, looking awkward and terrified, and Gabriel grabs his shoulder.  
“Do you want me to go back with you?” Gabriel asks.  
“No, thank you. You should catch up with the family,” Castiel says, and walks faster than could be considered normal out of the waiting room.

Gabriel hadn’t been exaggerating by much when he said that he had a thousand brothers and sisters. There were a lot of twins and adoptions and all other various ways of obtaining so many children, and they all crowd him in that waiting room. They all seem good-intentioned, but it makes him feel claustrophobic; it seems too much like his childhood, only everyone’s old now.

“Hello?” Sam asks.  
“Oh my goodness. My family is so weird. No wonder I left home,” Gabriel says.  
“Your family is weird to _you_? Are you sure they’re not normal?”  
“No, Sam. They’re fucking strange. And they won’t leave me alone. Michael told them about my boyfriend and they won’t shut up about it. You know how places will see you with another man and talk about how accepting they are towards all kinds of kinds but by pointing it out they’re saying you’re different? That’s exactly what’s happening. They are so eager to hear about you.”  
Sam laughs. “Maybe I’ll come out and meet them, then.”  
“No. I don’t know if they would let you leave and I would sacrifice you.”  
“You’re an ass.”  
“Survival of the less attractive, Sam.”  
“That’s hardly you,” Sam says.  
“More so than you.”  
“We’ll have to agree to disagree.”  
“No, princess. You’re definitely more attractive than I am. We’re not hanging up until you see the light,” Gabriel says, and Raphael walks in. “They found me.”  
Raphael laughs. “I’m here to get away from the madness, too; we’ll keep each other secret. They really are happy to have you back.”  
“I guess it’s good to be back,” Gabriel says. “It would be better if they’d tone it down.”  
Sam’s laugh chimes through the phone. “Strange request, coming from you.”  
“I know. I’m telling you that my family is really weird,” Gabriel says.

“How’s the boyfriend?” Raphael asks.  
“How’re you, Sam?” Gabriel asks.  
“I’m pretty good. Ed gave us five free pies and about a hundred dollars from the register, so it’s a good day.”  
“Sam. Don’t joke. How is the shop?”  
Sam laughs. “It’s fine, Gabriel. Ed is doing a great job, as always. Dean and I went by to get a pie and everything is running smoothly. I promise.”  
“I will personally blame you if it goes down in flames.”  
“I’ll be sure he does a good job, then,” Sam says. “Listen. I have to go.”  
“I’ll be calling at an incredibly inappropriate hour. I promise.”  
“I look forward to it.”

Raphael raises his eyebrows.  
“The boyfriend’s great. Wonderful, actually,” Gabriel says. “Do you ever look at Amanda and think, ‘Damn. How did I get so lucky?’”  
“Yeah,” Raphael says.  
“That’s how I feel about Sam. From day one,” Gabriel laughs. “This _giant_ walks into my shop and somehow I’m lucky enough to give him exactly what he needs in that moment. It could’ve been anyone. It could’ve been a nice, pretty girl, and it would’ve suited him better, but it was me, and he _wants_ me. How did this happen? Fuck, I’m getting sappy. I’m sorry.”  
Raphael laughs. “After everything you’ve gone through, I’d say it’s okay to get a little sappy every now and then.” He sighs. “If we’re both missing, they’re going to come looking, so I’ll get back and buy you a few more minutes.” He slaps Gabriel’s back on his way out. “We really are glad to have you back.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have anything written beyond this. OMG I'll get on it I swear!


End file.
